Way back before Damon Lindelof became the world-famous creator of Lost, he was just an ordinary Hollywood screenwriter looking for a career boost. At one point, in an attempt to impress Carlton Cuse (who would, of course, eventually serve as showrunner with Lindelof on Lost) Lindelof reportedly penned a one-act play titled Ollie Klublershturf vs. The Nazis. Director Skot Bright turned that play into a short film in 2010, pulling together a cast that includes a pre-ThorChris Hemsworth among several other recognizable faces. Watch the full short after the jump.

When Dade Klublershturf (Samm Levine) brings home his new girlfriend Daniella (Rachel Nichols), it’s as awkward as you’d expect any meet-the-parents dinner to be. However, events take an unexpected turn when Dade’s brother Ollie (Super 8‘s Zach Mills) reveals that Daniella, along with a couple of other last-minute dinner guests (Hemsworth and Norman Reedus) are actually secret Nazis trying to steal Ollie’s time travel machine for sinister purposes. Jack Axelrod, Lainie Kazan, and George Segal also star.

It’s not the most polished of films — there’s an amateurish feel to the production, despite the involvement of several Hollywood veterans, and the fart joke doesn’t quite work for me. But what it lacks in finesse, it makes up for with an entertainingly twisty concept and a solid cast. I was especially taken with Mills, who gives a very funny, engaging performance as boy genius Ollie.

What makes Ollie Klublershturf vs. The Nazis even more interesting, however, is the story behind the script. According to Script Shadow:

“Ollie” is the one-act play Lindelof specifically wrote to try and impress Carlton Cuse. The story goes that Cuse was talking to Damon’s agent, and he asked the agent if there was anything he could read, and the agent gets back to him a few days later and says there’s a one-act play he can read.

Cuse was impressed, stating that the pages “were funny and well-written.” So, that got Lindelof in the room with Cuse, and they immediately hit it off and the rest is presumably history. But, here’s the kicker, according to Cuse, “Little did I know that Damon wrote this original material for the purpose of the meeting.”